


Better Now

by ooh_look_the_void



Category: Twilight (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, During New Moon, F/F, Not Canon Compliant, Part-vampire Vampire Hunter because idk vampire genetics and I do what I want, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:15:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27604769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ooh_look_the_void/pseuds/ooh_look_the_void
Summary: AU where a lesbian Vampire Hunter arrives in Forks during the events of New Moon. That's basically it.
Relationships: Bella Swan/Original Female Character(s), Edward Cullen/Bella Swan (past), Jacob Black & Bella Swan, Jessica Stanley & Bella Swan
Kudos: 14





	Better Now

**Author's Note:**

> Just PSA, the title has close to nothing to do with the fic. I just put my playlist on shuffle to name this and Better Now by Oh Wonder came up.

Mum had caught wind of another sighting; another rousing of suspicious among locals about some of their more reclusive inhabitants. So, naturally, we were moving again. I wasn’t mad – sometimes I felt that I ought to be but I know we’re doing some good whenever we do this.

And I know to never get attached, wherever we go.

This time it was a town called Forks, all the way across the Atlantic over in the US. Admittedly, that bugged me, we rarely left Europe but as they move, so do we. Locals were beginning to get suspicious of a particular family – the Cullen’s. A noticeboard mum stalked had made note of the father, Dr Carlisle Cullen, looking an awful lot younger than he said I was. And so, with that smidge of suspicion to guide us, we packed up and hauled our lives over to some small, crummy American town.

∞

One of the perks of small-town American life, I was beginning to find, was the value for money. I mean, the house wasn’t great by any means, but at least I had a room of my own for once.  
I was curled up on my bed, messaging internet friends (the only ones I allow myself to really care for – lest _they_ catch up to us again) and feeling just a little bit better as they expressed some modicum of joy in me being in a closer time zone to them now.

Then they disappeared offline, and I did the same, as morning finally fully broke, and I had to get ready for my first day at Forks High School.

Mum was waiting for me at the dining room table, breakfast already laid out. I slung my backpack onto the floor beside my seat and grabbed my boots from besides the front door before finally siting down myself. Between mouthfuls of scrambled egg, I laced up my boots and listened to Mum brief me (yet again) on the situation.  
“From what it seems, the Dr we’re after has five children, all of whom attend the High School here. Don’t engage, just watch and– ”

“-report back anything suspicious and make an evaluation on whether they’re completely one of _them_ or if they’re like us. And if they’re not there, talk to people and find out as much as I can. I know Mum, it’s business as usual.”

She pressed a kiss to my forehead, “I know you know Lara. But you know I worry.”

“Yeah, I know,” I batted her away and slung my rucksack over my shoulder, “I’ll see you later.” I waved and headed out through the front door, making my way down the street to what would hopefully prove to be an interesting day.

∞

I realise, before I should go any further, I should probably offer a brief bit if backstory on what it is Mum and I do and why we do it. I think for this I’m just going to have to be as blunt as possible.

Mum’s dad, my grandfather, was a vampire. He was also, like all vampires in my experience, a colossal cunt. He seduced my grandmother when she was just eighteen (so, my age) and he was well into his hundreds. Then, he ditched her in a flash only for her to discover she was pregnant. I can hardly begin to imagine what that felt like – it’s one thing to be ditched by a normal asshole deadbeat but to deal with that knowing that asshole deadbeat father of your child was a soulless monster? It hardly bears thinking about. Luckily enough, Mum barely took after my grandfather – at least, in terms of the blood cravings and poor personality. She did pick up a few vampire traits – namely superspeed and strength. The two skills that lend themselves best to what we do.

I don’t think she always planned on being a Vampire Hunter. She’s told me how she spent most of her childhood and teenage years unaware that she was the child of a monster – my grandmother always told her that her powers were just a gift; that she was like a character from comic books who, for now, just had to keep her powers hidden.

Then, when she was just about to turn seventeen, her father showed up again. I think he’d been watching from afar the entire time. He’d grown fascinated with her gifts and come to the conclusion that if she could be so string like this, then perhaps she’d be even stringer as a vampire. That she’d be an asset. There was no fatherly feelings, no emotion from him, just pure cold-hearted desire to manipulate a girl (just like he had to grandmother) and twist her for his own uses.

He told Mum everything. She told him she’d need time to think and went home to grandmother. Then she told Mum everything – including how to kill a vampire – a sight she’d witnessed once before when my grandfather stopped her from being killed by another of his kind.

My grandfather showed up soon after. He gave Mum an ultimatum and didn’t take to it kindly when she said no. Grandmother died that night. And then Mum snapped. Grandfather was stupid, he was so caught up in his desire to keep her; in her conviction that he could manipulate her, that he didn’t use his full strength against Mum, didn’t damage her as he could have. So, she got the upper hand. And she tore him limb from bloody limb before lighting him up as if she were Guy Fawkes and he were Parliament (but more successfully that actual historical event).

The police came. She reported a man who killed her mum. She told them she’d been out in the shed, that she heard them commotion and brought a saw. That she still thought if she stopped him, she’d be able to save her mum. That a candle fell and burned him. And they believed her because, after all, that was almost the damn truth. And the closer to the truth you go, the more likely they believe you’re innocent.

She had a mission after that day. One to stop anyone else being hurt by _them_ like her mum was, like she was. She listened and looked and used every possible advantage she could to keep going after them and stopping them from causing more harm.

Then she met my father and everything came to a standstill. Because then she had me. And, for a but, everything was right with the world. They stayed still, got a house in a nice English town. She got a proper job, one that legally pays and everything, and it was all good for close to a decade.

Then a vampire showed up. One she’d missed on a job years before. One who wanted vengeance. One who was happy to kill my dad right in front of me when I was only ten years old.

One who was happy to try and kill me moments afterwards. Only to find that my skin was thicker than most. I got away and Mum got home and that vampire got what they deserved.

That day we found out Mum wasn’t the only one tainted by vampire genetics. I wasn’t as strong as her, or a vampire, but I was stronger than most and my skin was almost impenetrable too. Not fully, but close enough. And that day, everything changed. Mum went back to the mission and I joined her too – training, listening, watching and, if the situation ever called for it, helping too.

And so far, for every time I’ve come into contact with a vampire, I’ve won. Because they have one fatal flaw – they think we’re just humans, that we’re snacks and prey. And, even when they see otherwise, they still want to use us for their own ends. They underestimate us and every single time that leads to us being able to do a little right in this world and rid humanity of one more monster.

∞

My first day at Forks High School wasn’t going so well. I’d caught no sight of any of the Cullen’s nor heard of them in any class.

Until third period: biology.

I walked into Mr Molina’s classroom a few moments late, the best time so as to stave off the potential problems of sitting in someone else’s seat. The man looked over as I entered, “Ah, you must be Lara Ashton. We’re quite a full class here but it doesn’t seem Edward will be in anymore so if you sit over there,” he pointed to a seat close enough to the back and near a window, “next to Bella, that should be good.”

I headed over, pulling a notebook and pen out of my bag before slinging it unceremoniously onto the floor besides me and taking up my seat. “Hey,” I whispered over to the girl besides me, Bella, as Mr Molina started talking about chromosomes (or something). She turned round, giving me an odd look, before sighing heavily and shuffling her seat as far from me as possible, angling herself so all I could see was a flannel covered shoulder.

∞

Come lunchtime I’d made an acquaintance in the form of a girl named Jessica. She was… nice. Different, not someone I usually hung out with, but nice enough. And, judging by what I’d seen so far of this small-town school, it didn’t seem like it was bursting with all too much variety of personalities. Which, in some ways, was a bit of a blessing.

“What’s up with her?” I asked, part-way through lunch with Jessica and her friends. I gestured over to Bella from biology who was sitting all on her lonesome just one table over.

“Oh, Bella?” Jessica said, “She like was the new girl last year and like we’re friends but she was with Edward and he left and now she’d just like going through it.”

“Shouldn’t one of you check on her if you’re friends, she seems really… lonely.”

“We tried,” the blonde boy said, “but she just doesn’t want to see anyone.”

“It was really weird actually. Because like, Edward was hot so like girls wanted to date him but he was like never interested in any of them. And he would always sit over there, were Bella is now with his siblings,”

“Adopted siblings though, Dr Cullen adopted them all.”

“It was still really weird though because the other four were basically two couples which is really gross, don’t you think?”

Adopted, that meant that they must be all vampires them. “Uh yeah, that’s weird.”

“Right? So anyway, like Bella joined and then Edward like saved her from being hit by a car and stuff. And then they started going out and dating and all that. And now Edward’s left so Bella’s just like really sad and whatever. And she’s just like not talking to any of us.”

“Oh right, that must suck for her.” The conversation moved on, and I chipped in enough to seem like I was mentally there, but I was really just watching Bella. What a horrible situation for her, to be used by a vampire like that and then ditched, just like my grandmother. At least Bella was still alive though. An, by the looks of it, at least she wasn’t pregnant either.

∞

“So, the Cullen’s seem to be gone then?” Mum asked over dinner, spaghetti bolognaise for anyone curious. I nodded and she hummed, momentarily lost in thought. “Well, I’ve managed to get a job with the local police,” (that was her job back home, before dad died, and it’s what she goes back to whenever we’re somewhere long enough for that) “so I think we should stay put for a while. You keep and eye on that poor Bella girl. We don’t know if _they_ might come back because of her.”

“Sure thing,” it wasn’t that much of a concession to make, even if Mum hadn’t asked me, I had a feeling I’d be watching Bella anyway. Maybe even without her having vampire connections too.

∞

A few months passed and vampires remained as elusive as ever. I stuck with Jessica and her friends, going out to the cinema with them or shopping on the odd occasion. I wasn’t attached. I couldn’t say I cared about the group of them as much as I do my Mum or my online friends, but it was nice. They were nice.

Between time with them, time at school, and time with Mum when she was off work, I had most of my days covered. Working at the police station, Mum had been talking to Charlie, Bella’s dad, whilst at work. He told her how she’d been found alone in the forest one night, asleep on the ground for some unexplained reason. How she had night terrors but told him nothing. Mum sounded awful sorry for the poor man, yet another victim of vampires even if he didn’t know it. She tried to help him best she could, offering advice that helped me as a kid after everything that happened.

For the most part I don’t think that particularly helped – at least Bella didn’t look much better in any way since I first arrived in Forks. Jessica said she’d gone shopping with her but apparently that hadn’t ended well. And, I heard, also from Mum who heard it from Charlie, that she was also hanging out with Jacob. A boy a couple years our junior. And so, for Bella at least, that seemed nice.

∞

When I wasn’t with my sort-of friends, at school or with Mum, I was scoping out the local area. Or, as most people would call it, going for walks. The forest and woodland had become my favourite place. I wandered about in it quite happily, headphones around my neck, playing music just loud enough for me to hear.

It was one of those days, music blasting in my ears, as I walked around, occasionally scrawling notes regarding noticeable landmarks in a small reporter’s pad, that I came across Bella. And that friend of hers, Jacob.

It was the sound of an engine revving that I heard first, just audible over the din of music from my headphones. I paused the music, heading towards the sound. Bella was seated on a motorbike, looking entirely unsure of herself but also considerably more alive that I’d ever seen her. There was finally a sort of warmth to her features that I’d never got to see before. Her friend Jacob, was next to her, saying something I couldn’t quite hear. I was still a little way down from them.

Then, all of sudden, Bella went speeding off on the bike. Jacob looked a little startled. She rushed past me, but not much further, as she seemed to suddenly lose control and the bike spun down, crashing into the ground. I watched as Jacob headed to the other bike, a seemingly stupid move considering she’d hardly gotten far at all and running would be just about as quick. Speaking of running, I sprinted the few metres out of the trees towards her, “Are you alright?”

She looked up at me, confused, which I suppose is understandable since we’ve never really spoken, “Why are you here?”

“I was walking by, and I saw you crash.” I started rummaging in my pockets for the few bandages and plasters I always keep on me, just in case.

As I pulled a roll of white bandages from one of my trouser pockets, Jacob appeared just behind me.

“She’s bleeding,” he said – quite observant of him I may add – and immediately removed his shirt to pass to Bella just as I held up the bandages.

Bella took the bandages (thank goodness), and Jacob sheepishly shoved his short back on, “That was very, uh, heroic of you there.” I said to him, “surely, you’d be getting cold without a shirt on.”

“Jacob’s pretty warm.” Bella said, jamming a fistful of bandages against the wound to stop the bleeding.

“Yeah?” Jacob said, “Who are you, by the way?”

“I’m Lara. Me and Bella have some classes together and I just happened to be passing by. Can either of you actually drive a motorbike?”

“Legally? No.” Jacob said, “And we’re not trying it again, not after this.” I felt that last part was rather pointedly aimed at Bella rather than me.

Bella grumbled and I saw an opportunity, “I can drive them, I learnt back in England after I turned sixteen. With me and my Mum travelling often, I’ve not really had a chance to use one in a while. So, I could teach you two maybe. If you wanted?”

Jacob looked sceptical. I could tell he was about to shut things down again, both regarding him learning and Bella learning. But Bella looked at me, smiling. And the smile suited her so well, lighting up her eyes and bringing a faint tinge of colour cheeks (though they were certainly nowhere near as red as mine were beginning to feel), “I’d like that.”

“Bella,” Jacob warned, “that doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

“Because you know what’s best for me? You think you can stop me getting what I want like-”

“You got injured Bella. I don’t want you getting hurt, I’m protecting you.”

“That’s all everyone seems to do.” She was basically shouting now, frustration brimming from her voice. She picked herself up, one hand still jamming the wad of bandages against her head wound, and headed off, towards the town, without another word.

Jacob and I watched as she disappeared into the trees, “Uh, sorry about that?” I said.

“It’s fine. It’s mostly Cullen’s fault anyway.”

“How?”

“It just is. One of us should go after her, you realise?”

“I can. I’m walking that way anyway. And it’s not been long, I’m sure I can catch up to her.”

“Ok,” he said, gesturing to the motorbikes behind him, “I’ll sort these out and get them put somewhere safe.” The implied ‘where Bella won’t get to them’ hung in the air and left a bitter taste in my mouth. Sure, she’d hurt herself today but she was her own person, two amateurs by themselves and it was bound to happen.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, beginning to head off, “well, uh, see you around I guess.” Before he could respond, I broke off into a sprint through the trees to where I assumed Bella was.

∞

I caught up to her soon enough. She was walking at a slow place, dejected and moody written all over her body language.

I approached her almost like one did a caged animal, unsure of how she’d react to me being here again, “Are you ok?”

She turned around, looking at me. I was taken back to that biology lesson where I first met her. Once again, she turned her back on me and sighed. This time, however, there was a follow up of speech, “No. Not really.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, not entirely sure if that were ok considering how little we knew each other but entirely uncertain that I could have said anything else.

“Edward thought he knew what was best for me. And then he left. Without me. And Jake is great, but today he’s acting just like him. I make my own choices; they shouldn’t stop me.”

“If it makes it better, I don’t think Jacob meant to hurt you with what he said. I don’t necessarily agree with him but,” I shrugged as I trailed off.

“Edward didn’t mean to hurt me.”

“I’ve not exactly heard good things about him. And if he acted like he knew what was best so much, that seems controlling.”

“I wasn’t like that.”

“Ok, if you say so,” I took a few steps forward, placing myself in front of her, “Do you want to come to mine, there’s a first aid kit so I can help you deal with that properly. Or we can go to the hospital.”

She paused, “Your place is fine.”

We walked on in amicable silence. Our steps slowly fell into sync by the time we reached mine. Bella sat down at the dining room table as I dragged out the first aid kit from beneath the sink. Gently, slowly, I cleaned the injury and tacked on a couple of butterfly stitches, just to be safe.

I don’t know if I should have asked her to stay longer.

∞

For a few days, I thought nothing had happened; that that interaction had meant nothing. Then Bella started sitting with us all at lunchtimes every so often. And she’d talk to the group, including me. And then, eventually, one day out of the blue, she showed up at my house.

It was the weekend after she’d gone to watch a movie with Jacob and Mike. I’d meant to go, but like the others, had bailed on them last minute to follow up a lead a couple of towns over with my mum. Not that they knew that, of course.

I was half-asleep, wearing a pair of torn, tattered jeans and a worn, woollen jumper when I opened the door. “Bella?”

“I spoke to Jake and he decided that he can’t stop me so I’ve got the bikes,” she gestured at her truck behind her, the two motorbikes presumably hidden under the tarpaulin at the back, “If your offer still stands?”

For a brief moment I paused, my brain short-circuited. I wasn’t blind to my feelings and I still didn’t want to get too attached to anyone. Didn’t want to end up like Mum after Dad. But Bella was already exposed; she had already survived _them._

“So, Lara?” She stared expectantly at me.

“Yeah, sure. Just let me grab some stuff.” I vanished the reappeared in the doorway, “You can wait in here if you want by the way.”

“Oh, that’s ok,” Bella said, staying stuck on the steps in front of my house. Shifting a little, as if she were feeling awkward for some reason.

I got changed as quick as I could, shoving on a less bettered and sturdier pair of jeans, my boots and a bomber jacket over an old band tee. A few minutes later I was back at the door, my old motorcycle helmet that I’d just dug out of a box atop my wardrobe, in hand. “I thought this might help prevent any injuries like last time.” I clarified, noting her looking at it.”

“Good idea.” She sort-of half-smiled, an air of discomfort and scepticism about her for some reason. I followed her out, sitting in the passenger seat as she drove over to where I’d seen her last time.

As we drove, we passed a body of water. It was far below us, the road essentially on a cliff. In the distance, I saw a group of boys, all shirtless and tattooed. All of them standing at the edge of a cliff, “What are they doing?”

“Cliff-diving.”

I craned my neck to look out the window at them, watching one of them leap off and disappear out of view, “Looks, dangerous.”

“Jake says they all just follow Sam. Do what he does.”

“And he does that? Out of everything in the world?”

Bella coughed. I looked over, for a minute I thought she was stifling a smile, “Well, when you put it like that.” She quirked an eyebrow up at me and I grinned. I was really becoming stupid for this girl’s attention.

∞

It became a routine after that. Weekends were for Bella and me to go out on the motorbikes. Sometimes Jacob joined us and other times Jessica and the others came too – although they tended to just sit about in the background, wincing whenever it looked like one of us was going to crash into something or cheering whenever Bella stayed on the bike for a decent amount of time.

For the most part, though, it was just me and Bella.

It seeped over into the rest of the weekdays as the weeks went on, building into months that took us all closer to graduation. I was becoming attached but I couldn’t bring myself to hate it.

Sometimes we’d just walk together or we’d take the bikes out to a town over instead of using her truck. We’d stay at mine or hers, watching movies if we didn’t want to deal with the trek to the cinema. She was so much more vibrant, so much more of a person that I could have thought when I first got to Forks. She’d grin and smile and, maybe it was just me, but she could light up the room. She was sarcastic and cynical with a dry humour that probably made me laugh more than anyone else ever had. Although, admittedly, perhaps the bar was rather low for that considering my whole ‘don’t get attached’ mentality’.

Between everything – hanging out with Bella, with Jacob, with Jessica and her friends – I was growing fond of Forks and the people.

Then, of course, the reason we were here had to return.

∞

Mum had been hearing rumours from the neighbouring towns. It was all the usual stuff you’d hear when a vampire had taken up residence in an area.

I was out by myself, taking a route through parts of town and the forest that I liked. The trees broke off into an open field. I was just on the edge of that border between forest an open space when I saw her.

She wasn’t alone. There was a man with her. I couldn’t hear them but I saw as he got closer to her, hand reaching for her throat. I reached a hand in my pocket, glad to realise my lighter was still there. There was a flask of vodka in my rucksack as well that ought to help – and, yeah, by US laws that was illegal considering my age but I’d gotten drunk on the stuff back home and it was nice sometimes. Especially on a day like today. When the memories from eight years ago wouldn’t stop playing on my mind. But that slipped away as I saw the scene before me and, “Bella?” I cried out.

His grasp slipped and they both turned to me.

“And who are you?” he asked.

“Lara.” I said, voice cracking a little to let him think I was weak, “What are you doing to my friend?”

He looked at Bella. I stepped closer and could make clear the red of his eyes. He was definitely one of _them_. “Don’t,” she said, sounding defeated, “Lara just go.”

“I can’t let that happen. She’s seen me and I’m sure a clever girl like you,” he looked at me, “Lara, will be able to piece two and two together.”

Before I could blink, he was right in front of me. I struck out, putting all my strength into the attack. He paused. Shocked. Confused. The usual reactions. Good. It was enough for me. I didn’t hold back, I was vicious and savage, the vampire genetics spilling out as I used the gifts it lent me.

“Look out!”

I swung my head to look behind me, spotting several wolves appearing from the treeline. I dodged out of the way as they pounced upon the vampire, finishing him off. He was torn to shreds before us and Bella was frozen to the spot.

I wasn’t sure who the wolves were – or if, in fact, they were just wolves. But I think shared a look of understanding with one before they all vanished. I poured the vodka out onto the torn-up remnants of the vampire, bringing my lighting to it all and watching it get set ablaze.

I turned away from it to her, “Are you okay?”

“He’s not watching me, is he? He’s not really here still in any way.”

“Edward?”

She looked up at me, from where her gaze had been transfixed on the fire, “What are you?”

We sat down there, in the grass besides a burning corpse. And I told her my story, the one of my family. And she told me everything from her first year in Forks. We both became the first people, who weren’t involved in each story, to hear them. And when it was done, and the realisations were over, when it sunk in that Edward had really gone, I held her tight and let everything messed up that had been dealt to her over this past year wash over her. I let her cry on my shoulder, just like how ten-year-old me wished she could’ve cried on someone’s shoulder when I got brought into this mess eight years ago.

∞

It was the ninth anniversary of my father’s death. It was one year on from that night.

Mum had had us move again. This time to a small town in Florida, just after graduation. Bella had moved around then too. She’d planned to just spend the summer with her mum there but things change. Maybe just the fact that the climate was more like what she’d known all her life before the mess that Forks and the Cullen’s left her with swayed her to stay. Maybe that made it seem safer. Maybe once she was away from that place, she just realised she could move on. Either way, she was still in Florida, looking at colleges for the next year. Looking at having a life of her own again.

She still had her truck, though. We were parked in the middle of nowhere, led down in the back together atop piles of blankets. The sky was clear above us, inky black dotted with stars. Her hand was wrapped in mine. I saw her watching me and pulled her in for a kiss. It was soft, sweet and right.

I’d gotten attached but I couldn’t care less. We were mortal, we were alive and we deserved joy. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was purely self-indulgent nonsense I came up with whilst half-asleep watching New Moon last night with my friends over video call. And I'm not complaining because it obliterated my writing block today so thanks for that Twilight. Also I genuinely know so little about Twilight so if it's inaccurate to canon, I just genuinely didn't know that thing was a thing. 
> 
> Anyway, if you read, hope you enjoyed. Kudos and comments are welcomed. You can also find me on tumblr @oohlook-thevoid (although I can't say I post too much Twilight over there).


End file.
